Era I · to AD 476
Antiquity
From Marathon in 490 BC to the Milvian Bridge in AD 312, these are the battles of hoplites, legions, war elephants and oared warships. Greece turned back the Persian invasions, Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, and Rome fought Carthage for mastery of the Mediterranean.
21 battles ยท 21 commanders
Image: The Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Giulio Romano (Raphael workshop), 1520 to 1524, Vatican Museums. Public domain.
Where the battles were fought
Every battle of the era with a story in the Field Dispatch. Tap a dot to read it.
Europe in close-up
Basemap: Natural Earth, public domain. Modern coastlines.
The battles in order
- 490 BCBattle of Marathon
How outnumbered Athenian hoplites broke the first Persian invasion on a beach near Athens, and gave us the marathon.
- 480 BCBattle of Salamis
How a smaller Greek fleet lured Persia's navy into a strait and shattered it, saving Greek civilization weeks after Thermopylae.
- 480 BCBattle of Thermopylae
Some 7,000 Greeks under Leonidas held the Hot Gates until a mountain path was betrayed.
- 479 BCBattle of Plataea
In 479 BC the largest Greek army ever assembled crushed the Persians under Mardonius at Plataea, ending Xerxes' invasion of Greece for good.
- 333 BCBattle of Issus
In 333 BC Alexander charged straight at Darius III on a cramped plain in southern Turkey. The king fled, his family was taken and the road to Egypt opened.
- 331 BCBattle of Gaugamela
How Alexander the Great, badly outnumbered, shattered the Persian army of Darius III and won the heart of the greatest empire on earth.
- 326 BCBattle of the Hydaspes
In 326 BC Alexander the Great crossed the flooded Hydaspes river in a storm and defeated King Porus and his war elephants in the Punjab.
- 218 BCBattle of the Trebia
In December 218 BC Hannibal lured a Roman army across the icy Trebia river and destroyed it, his first great victory in Italy in the Second Punic War.
- 217 BCBattle of Lake Trasimene
In June 217 BC Hannibal trapped a Roman army in morning mist at Lake Trasimene and destroyed it in hours, killing the consul Flaminius. Step by step.
- 216 BCBattle of Cannae
How Hannibal, outnumbered at Cannae in 216 BC, let his center bend and closed both wings to destroy a Roman army of 86,000. The trap generals still study.
- 207 BCBattle of the Metaurus
At the Metaurus in 207 BC Rome destroyed the reinforcements marching to join Hannibal and killed his brother Hasdrubal.
- 202 BCBattle of Zama
In 202 BC Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at Zama, ending the Second Punic War and setting Rome on the road to mastery of the Mediterranean.
- 52 BCBattle of Alesia
How Julius Caesar trapped Vercingetorix at Alesia in 52 BC behind a double ring of siege walls, beat off a huge relief army, and won all of Gaul for Rome.
- 48 BCBattle of Pharsalus
On 9 August 48 BC Julius Caesar's outnumbered army crushed Pompey the Great at Pharsalus in Greece, deciding Rome's civil war.
- 42 BCBattle of Philippi
In October 42 BC Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, the death of the Roman Republic.
- 31 BCBattle of Actium
On 2 September 31 BC Octavian's fleet crushed Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, ending the Roman Republic and clearing the path to the age of emperors.
- 9Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
In AD 9 Arminius lured three Roman legions under Varus into the Teutoburg Forest and destroyed them, halting Rome at the Rhine for good.
- 208Battle of Red Cliffs
At Red Cliffs in AD 208 the southern warlords used fire ships to destroy Cao Cao's fleet on the Yangtze, halting his bid to unify China.
- AD 218Battle of Antioch
Legions backing the 14-year-old Elagabalus beat Emperor Macrinus, who fled in disguise and was hunted down in Asia Minor.
- 312Battle of the Milvian Bridge
In AD 312 Constantine beat Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge outside Rome, a victory that set Rome on the road to Christianity.
- AD 324Battle of Chrysopolis
Constantine defeats Licinius on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, reunites the empire and founds Constantinople.
Test yourself
This era in the app
Echoes of Battle tells the battles of this era scene by scene, from every side, with a map and a quiz. The app is in closed testing: enlist below and we will send word to your inbox the day it launches.